Florida Loses In OT at Mississippi

Boxscore

The No. 7 University of Florida soccer team (8-4-1, 2-1-1 SEC) lost 3-2 in double overtime at Mississippi (8-3, 2-1 SEC) on a rainy Sunday afternoon at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.

The two teams scored nearly identical goals within two minutes of each other to open scoring for the match. UM struck first Sunday when Hannah Weatherly took advantage of a loose ball in the box. She hit a 12-yard shot to the far post corner in the 61^st minute.

Florida sophomore Sarah Chapman fed the ball into the box. Jessica Eicken slide to get the ball forward to Brooke Thigpen who was making a run down the right side of the UM box. Thigpen took the ball and placed it in from 12-yards to the far post corner at 62:10. It was her fifth goal of the season.

Florida’s second goal started when Tricia Townsend took a couple of touches to let the Gators begin their runs. When she served the ball, there were three orange shirts in the box. Tahnai Annis got to the ball first, heading it in to the far post corner for her third goal of 2009 at 77:26.

The Rebels tied the match 83:15 at when Kelsey Breathitt scored at the near post corner off the assist from Taylor Cunningham.

Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh thought UF needed to push harder in the second half.

“To be honest, I thought we went up 2-1, I thought we were going to win. In the first half, we dictated play, but we became more passive in the second half. When we had the 2-1 lead, we were probably playing not to lose, instead of playing to win,” Burleigh said. “We were letting them come to us instead of us stepping up and being aggressive. On defense, we were sagging a little bit. We just got away from what we were doing in the first half.”

Florida came out in the first overtime period showing the aggressive play it displayed in the opening half. UF outshot the Rebels 3-1 in the first overtime period and were awarded three corner kicks, but couldn’t find the golden goal.

The Rebels scored early in the second overtime period to take their second win in the all-time 15-match UF-UM series. The Rebels were awarded a free kick just above the center of the Florida box in the 102^nd minute. Abbie Curran got a piece of her body on it to at the far post corner to get it past the goal line. The win was UM’s second consecutive 3-2 2OT win in Sunday league action. Last Sunday, the Rebels defeated Auburn 3-2 2OT in their SEC opener.

Florida had some excellent looks at the goal in the opening half. In the first minute, Lindsay Thompson fought off a pair of defenders, but her centering pass was just missed by Angela Napolitano. Just a couple of minutes later, Erika Tymrak led Thompson with a pass in the box, but Thompson’s sliding foot forward couldn’t make strong enough contact on the ball to get past the UM goalkeeper. In the 19^th minute, Tymrak was able to make space to take a 15-yard shot, but Alley Ronaldi made a diving save to prevent it from scoring at the far post corner. In the 40^th minute, Natalia Torosian’s 20-yard shot sailed just above the crossbar.

Included in UF Katie Fraine’s six saves Sunday was a diving stop on Curran’s eight-yard shot in the box in the 82^nd minutes. UM goalkeeper Alley Ronaldi turned in two saves.

“The team needs to stay together, believe in what we are doing, control what we can control and go forward,” Burleigh said. “I think this team will be fine in the long run.”

Florida was without senior All-American Lauren Hyde, who sat out Sunday’s match with a respiratory illness. Starting center back Kathryn Williamson also played just four minutes due to a sore right ankle.

The Gators return home to play host to Alabama (5-4, 1-1 SEC) Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. Friday’s match is the second of six Florida regular-season matches that will be televised this season. The match can be seen live on SUN Sports (Gainesville/Ocala Cox cable channel 48).

The match can also be heard on WRUF AM 850, by simulcast on Cox Channel 946 (Gainesville/Ocala) or on www.GatorZone.com with Adam Schick and Matthew Stubbington covering the action.